February 23, 2008

RAPTORS NEED TO GROW UP AND STOP PLAYING LIKE CHILDREN

There is absolutely no excuse for losing to a second-rate team like the New York.  The Knicks are an implosive squad with very little talent and almost no desire to succeed.  They are led by a man who walks with a mental cane and carries an emotional amulet that is wrapped tightly around his neck.  Absolutely no excuse for losing to this club.

I, like most Raptor fans, have been patient with this young club.  We realize that there will be growing pains as the young club learns what it is like to be a contender.  We know that they need to learn the consistency needed to be successful and the effort required in winning on most nights in the NBA.  We see the possibilities on many nights, but then we see the growing pains on others.  Losing to the Knicks, as I mentioned earlier, is inexcusable.

Sam is always quick to state that in the NBA there are no easy games.  That in the NBA if you don’t put out your best effort any team can beat you.  So why isn’t his team listening to him?  Why do they still believe—in game 53 of the long season—that if they simply put forth a modicum of effort that their less talented opposition will fold?  Why are they having such a hard time understanding that consistency of effort is the blueprint for all successful teams?

The Raptors believe they are among the elite of the Eastern Conference.  They are not.  Boston and Detroit play nearly all of their games with a high level of intensity.  Just because top clubs are playing bottom feeders doesn’t mean that the better club can go easy and still win.  You want to coast—then relax when you are up by 30 in the fourth quarter.  Then you can sit on the bench and laugh and joke with your team-mates.  Until then—business as usual.

We’ve seen the Raptors blow teams out of the arena this season.  They’ve demolished the Heat, the Bucks, the Grizzlies, the Wolves, the Pacers and the Knicks at some point in the season.  While we certainly don’t expect 40 point wins every time they play inferior squads we certainly don’t expect half-hearted efforts that lead to improbable losses.

If you consider yourselves an elite club—if you consider yourselves a conference contender, then show your wares on each and every night.  You want to relax?  That’s what days off are for.

TRADE DEADLINE ANALYSIS.

The biggest winner is unquestionably the Lakers.  Having Lamar Odom as your third option, a more comfortable position for him, and with the development of Farmer and Vujacic off the bench the acquisition of Gasol has given the Lakers exactly what Kobe wanted when he whined in the off-season—a definite NBA championship contender.

Other winners—the Sonics.  Wherever they play in the future the club has stockpiled a number of draft choices over the next three years (13 of which six are first rounders) and should be able to build a solid team in that time.  The Suns—Shaq gives them a presence inside they have not had before and frees up Stoudamire to be an off the ball defender and more of a shooter.  The Spurs—I love Kurt Thomas (I had hoped the Raptors could get him but obviously this year it was expiring contracts that turned the tide and the Raps just don’t have them, yet)

The losers—the Mavs.  While it is never a bad thing to get a player of the ilk of Jason Kidd (he was the difference in last year’s first round upset of the Raptors) this is a club that won 67 games last year and simply needs to be tougher.  Mark Cuban just can’t help himself though.  He treats his club like a fantasy league team and he wants to have all the biggest names in the game.  The Celtics—sure they have the league’s best record, but they look like a club that came out of the gate strong and are wearing down as the season progresses.  They needed something to energize them as the season moves toward the finish line.

The question marks—the Cavs.  Sure they picked up some big names.  They are deeper up front, and they added some offence off the bench, but the players they acquired are one-dimensional and if the Cavs are going to be successful Mike Brown is going to have to utilize the new players in the right spots with the right combinations.  Of course when you have one of the two players in the league that can win a game all by himself it may not matter.

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